Eight men have been cleared of murdering three friends who were hit by a car during last summer's riots as they attempted to protect local businesses in Birmingham.

As the not guilty verdicts were returned by the jury at the city's crown court, the trial judge appealed for calm within the community following the "tragic and pointless loss of three young lives".

All eight defendants denied they planned to kill the men, Haroon Jahan, 21, and brothers Shazad Ali, 30, and Abdul Musavir, 31, in the early hours of 10 August last year, at a time of "unparalleled" civil disorder on the streets of the city. The defendants said the deaths were an accident and the jury accepted their version of events after they deliberated for just over four hours in a trial that lasted for almost three months.

Ryan Goodwin, 21, Shaun Flynn, 26, Juan Ruiz-Gaviria, 31, Joshua Donald, 27, Everton Graham, 30, Adam King, 24, Ian Beckford, 30, and Aaron Parkins, 18, all from the Birmingham area, were each cleared of three counts of murder. There were charged scenes as a woman in the public gallery shouted: "That's justice," and "Thank you, jury," as the jury foreman sat down following the verdicts, while one of the victim's fathers, Tariq Jahan, remained impassive with his arms folded.

Mr Justice Flaux also addressed the victims' relatives, praising Jahan for the work he had done following the riots. The judge told them: "I know this has been really terrible for you, don't think I don't know that. I know Mr Jahan has done wonderful things for the city in ensuring we didn't have a complete conflagration last August.

"Can I please ask you to remain calm and so far as it is humanly possible to put everything that happened last August behind you and look to the future. Throughout the trial you have all behaved in a most dignified way and I am very grateful for that."

During his summing up earlier this week, the judge had urged the jurors to put emotion to one side while considering their verdicts.

After the verdicts were returned he noted: "On any view this has been a terrible case – a tragic and pointless loss of three young lives. However, by their verdicts the jury have decided that this was not a deliberate killing, that there was no plan to kill these three young men. The jury have decided that it was a terrible accident."

The judge said the deaths occurred at a time of unprecedented civil disorder, adding: "It is important that however strong feelings are within the community in Winson Green and adjacent areas, that calm is maintained and that these verdicts are respected.

"Any other action would not be honouring those who died. In fact quite the reverse. What happened on the streets of Birmingham and other cities last August should never be repeated."

The prosecution had alleged that all eight men were part of a deliberate plan to drive a vehicle at a crowd of people in Dudley Road, Winson Green, in the early hours of 10 August in a "chariot-charge" of three vehicles. However, the jurors rejected this version of events.

Throughout proceedings, the eight men denied the existence of any plan to harm pedestrians and the driver of a Mazda, 30-year-old Beckford, denied deliberately driving into the victims. Beckford, of Quinton, Birmingham, said he had been good friends with two of the men – Musavir and Ali – and had not intended to knock down, kill or seriously harm any member of the crowd.

The defence argued the three cars were under attack from a crowd, some masked and armed with sticks, bricks and, in one case, a sword. Beckford's barrister, Paul Lewis QC, submitted that the collision happened when the three cars involved were "under serious attack" from groups of men throwing bricks and missiles from both sides of the road. He said: "It was a tragedy, but it was an accident, nonetheless."

Giving evidence, Beckford said he was frightened and just wanted to get past the group. "I didn't want my car to get smashed up because I had that car up for sale."

Asked by his barrister if he had intended to kill the two brothers and their friend, he replied: "No, I did not. I'm not capable of doing anything like that. I could not just drive my car into people and kill them. I haven't got it in me to do something like that.

"I wouldn't do something like that, not in a million years I wouldn't. To me it was an accident, to me it was absolutely an accident." He said there was no way he could have prevented it from happening. He said the victims Musavir and Ali were very good friends, people he sat down with and ate food with.

After the incident, he went to his brother's home in Lancashire before handing himself in to police in Birmingham several days later. At the time, he said, he could not eat or sleep and was hysterical.

"I was trying to clear my head but my head is never going to be cleared, ever."

Hours after the deaths, Tariq Jahan made an emotional appeal to groups of youths gathered outside his home in Winson Green. His call for calm was credited with helping to bring an end to the riots and he later received an award for his compassion and dignity in the aftermath of his son's death. Thousands of people attended the funerals of the three men in August and their families praised the community for its fortitude. In the hours leading up to the deaths, gangs had apparently rushed down the road and stolen a digger parked near a police station with the intention of stealing a cash machine.

After the defendants were told they were free to leave the dock, the judge also thanked the nine women and three men of the jury, who were excused from further jury service for 15 years.